CYPRESS, CA- Cypress softball was well represented on the Orange Empire Conference team as eight awards were brought home by the Chargers. Emily Rush earned the most prestigious award of them all as she was named OEC MVP. Cameron Curiel took home some hardware of her own as she was name OEC Co-Defensive Player of the Year. Rush, Curiel and Camryn Addimando earned OEC first team, while Eliza Sandoval, Paige Shafer and Jordan Thompson earned second team honors.
Emily Rush had a stellar season in the batter's box as well as in the pitching circle. As a batter, Rush led the OEC in RBIs (47) and home runs (10). The freshman led Cypress in batting average (.407), slugging percentage (.779), doubles (19) and hits (55). Emily boasted a 2.00 ERA in the circle to go along with her 21 wins and 75 strikeouts. Rush pitched 168 of the 288 innings that Cypress played in this season.
Cameron Curiel played centerfield for Cypress where she was awarded OEC defensive player of the year. Curiel is a speedster in the outfield making 73 put outs with 2 assists and a (.974) fielding percentage. Cameron was also clutch with the bat as she came up with 29 hits, including 4 triples, in her 104 plate appearances. Curiel was a pest on the base paths as she stole 13 bases to go along with her (.378) on base percentage. Camryn Addimando was a stud on defense for Cypress as she held down the shortstop position with a (.931) fielding percentage for the Chargers. Addimando batted .308 with 8 doubles and 2 triples as she knocked in 39 runs.
Third basemen, Eliza Sandoval, was one of three players to represent Cypress on the All-OEC second team as she makes her third appearance on the All-OEC roster. Sandoval had a batting average of (.403) with 54 hits and 22 RBIs. Eliza had an on base percentage of (.449) to go along with her 6 doubles. Paige Shafer hit her way on to the All-Conference team for a second straight season as she drove in 27 runs with her 41 hits. Shafer had a team high 4 triples and batted (.322) in her 42 games. Jordan Thompson also made it back-to-back appearances on the All-OEC second team. Thompson batted (.331) with an on base percentage of (.431). Jordan led the team in stolen bases (18) and scored 28 runs on the season. Thompson found extra bases in nine of her at bats with 6 doubles and 3 triples.
The full Orange Empire All-Conference selections can be found here
UP NEXT: Cypress will begin postseason play on Friday, May 6th, when they host Imperial Valley for a best out of three series. First pitch on Friday will be at 2pm.
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